KLM’s social media strategy – Part 4

Part 4 : Roadmap and Strategy

KLM has been active in social media since late 2009. Ever since, people have been asking us about our social media strategy. In this fourth and final part of our blog series, we take a look at where we’re heading.

2009 was the year of orientation. In 2010 we continued to set up accounts, experiment and further explore the social landscape. In 2011 we focused on growing, learning and putting governance into place. And our efforts started to pay off. On 31 January 2012, we reached a milestone with one million likes on our global Facebook page. At the time of this writing, we have over 1.7 million.

2012 is dedicated to turning our growth and the lessons we’ve learned into business, knowing that the expectations we created are now the new standard. This year, we aim to strengthen our leading position in social media and set an example for the airline industry. We plan to further integrate social media into our business model and have done scientific research with university students. Meanwhile, we are keeping a close eye on opportunities, and discovering new social networks such as Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. KLM is also active on LinkedIn.

Our social media strategy is based on three pillars: Reputation, Service and Commerce. Reputation includes brand awareness, issue management, tone of voice and sharing engaging content. Service is all about providing a personal and accessible one-stop-shop in social media. The latest add-on to this was a pilot study in which we uploaded relevant passenger information from our social conversations to KLM iPads that a number of pursers were carrying. This gave our crews the opportunity to offer their passengers a more personal touch. Of course, we always respect passenger privacy.

Commerce is the more challenging component of our strategy. Few companies have successfully derived revenue from social media, but we aim to be among those that do. We can do that by working efficiently. For instance, if we answer one question publicly, we answer it for everyone with the same question. As a result, we get fewer calls to answer. Another return on investment is improved online sentiment and an increase in brand ambassadors. What’s more, we are equipped to sell tickets and measure all conversion to our website. We have introduced the social services “Meet & Seat” and “Trip Planner” and launched the Twitter bots @KLMflights and @KLMfares. Recently, we announced a pilot study of WiFi on board – quite a challenge when crossing multiple borders or oceans. First metrics prove that we are on track. You might think that the importance of social media to KLM will make us forget about other forms of communication. Don’t worry, we’ll continue to answer the phone.

Technology is developing faster than most of us can keep up with. By making you the centre of our attention, we are trying to help develop the social media revolution to its full potential. We hope it will make your flight an experience worth sharing. I love my job and am proud to be part of the team!